Midwife hangs herself after she wrongly thought she was to blame for baby's death

A midwife was found hanged after she wrongly believed she was to blame for a baby's death, an inquest heard yesterday.

Theresa Naish, 28, feared she would be struck off because she had failed to tell doctors that the premature baby had had a balloon placed in his throat during his mother's pregnancy to help his lungs develop.

A colleague had been in charge of the baby boy but had gone to lunch leaving Miss Naish, who had just started her shift, to provide cover.

Tragic: Theresa Naish committed suicide a week after graduating (above). She had only been registered as a midwife for a year

The balloon would have prevented the child from breathing. But the
baby's health was so poor he would not have survived anyway, Croydon
Coroner's Court heard.

Following the incident, distraught Miss Naish went on two weeks' leave, which had been booked previously.

During her time off the hospital cancelled two overtime shifts she had been scheduled to work.

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The inquest heard she received a series of voicemails asking her to
come in to meet hospital managers, but they failed to say she was not
facing suspension and was not
responsible for the death of the boy.

Her father Thomas Naish criticised the hospital during the hearing for not giving her any reassurance.

'Theresa was just sent home and her shifts were cancelled,' he said.
'There is no umbrella of care within the NHS for the people who work
within it - the people who do the caring.'

Miss Naish's sister Cherry, 25, told the inquest: 'The effect this
whole thing had on her was that she went home thinking, "They are going
to disbar me".'

King's College Hospital was criticised for not giving Theresa Naish support

A couple of days before Miss Naish was due back to work at King's
College Hospital in South London colleagues became concerned that they
had not heard from her.

Senior midwife Linda Sherratt had arranged to have a meeting with
her. But Miss Naish did not turn up and suddenly stopped answering her
phone.

Police forced their way into her flat in Upper Norwood, South
London, in the early hours of January 28 where they found her hanging
in the bathroom.

The final two internet searches on her laptop had been for 'disbarred midwives' and 'ten ways to commit suicide'. Pathologists
believe she probably died three or four days earlier.

Miss Naish had been registered as a midwife for a year and had graduated a few weeks before her death.

In cases where unborn babies' lungs are not developing properly, a
technique has been developed where a small balloon is inserted into the
throat.

Since the placenta provides the oxygen for the foetus in the womb, the balloon does not interfere with foetal breathing.

But before birth the balloon must be removed in order for the baby
to be able to breathe after birth. Mrs Sherratt told the court: 'She
did amazingly well to get the mother to the labour ward as quickly as
she did.

'We discovered that the baby would have stood a very, very minute
chance of survival anyway because his condition was so bad, even if the
balloon had been taken out.

'Theresa may have felt she contributed to his death by not passing on crucial information.

'I was in charge of the investigation into the incident. My first concern was for Theresa.

'There were all sorts of rumours going around but it was never the case that she would be suspended.

'The really very sad thing about this whole business is that I never got a chance to speak to her.'

At the time of her death, Miss Naish was one and a half times the drink drive limit.

Coroner Dr Roy Palmer found that this was enough to give him 'a tiny
bit of doubt' about whether Miss Naish intended to kill herself.

He recorded an open verdict.

Outside court Miss Naish's father said: 'I have spoken to lots of
women Theresa cared for and delivered babies for, and they have all
said she was incredible.

'She joined the St John's Ambulance when she was 14. All she ever wanted to do was look after people.'

Last night a hospital source said Miss Naish's death happened after they had informed her an investigation was going to take place into the baby's death.

'She had already booked herself two weeks leave prior to all this happening. We did not put her on 'gardening leave,' the source said.

'During that holiday she booked herself to work a few bank shifts during that time. We did cancel the last two of these because we felt we needed to meet with her before she worked those shifts.

'We could not say to her on the phone, Don't worry - you're not going to be suspended, because that's not how things are done in the NHS. We have to relay that information face to face.'